Coaxial cables are widely used to carry high frequency electrical signals. Coaxial cables enjoy a relatively high bandwidth, low signal losses, are mechanically robust, and are relatively low cost. A coaxial cable typically includes an elongate inner conductor, a tubular outer conductor, and dielectric separating the inner and outer conductors. For example, the dielectric may be a plastic foam material. An outer insulating jacket may also be applied to surround the outer conductor.
One particularly advantageous use of coaxial cable is for connecting electronics at a cellular or wireless base station to an antenna mounted at the top of a nearby antenna tower. For example, the transmitter and receiver located in an equipment shelter may be coupled via coaxial cables to antennas carried by the antenna tower. A typical installation includes a relatively large diameter main coaxial cable extending between the equipment shelter and the top of the antenna tower to thereby reduce signal losses. For example, CommScope, Inc. of Hickory, N.C. offers its CellReach® coaxial cable for such applications.
In larger diameter coaxial cables, which are commonly used in cellular communication as described above, the elongate inner conductor can be tubular in shape. The tubular inner conductor may also surround an inner dielectric material. The inner conductor is typically manufactured by forming a flat layer or sheet of conductive material into a tube with a longitudinal seam and welding the seam to form a continuous joint. The outer conductor is also similarly manufactured by forming a flat layer or metal sheet into a tube with a longitudinal seam that is welded to form a continuous joint.
The high frequency currents carried by the coaxial cable are concentrated in only a small portion, radially outermost, of the inner conductor, and a correspondingly small radially innermost portion of the outer conductor. This characteristic is attributed to the electromagnetic phenomenon called the skin effect. Therefore, only the thin outer radial portion of the tubular inner conductor carries the high frequency currents. Conversely, the outer tubular conductor also carries the high frequency currents in the thin radially innermost portion.
Bimetallic layers have been used for the inner and/or outer tubular conductors in a coaxial cable where a higher conductivity and more expensive metal is used to provide the radially outermost portion of an inner conductor, and is used to provide the radially innermost portion of the outer conductor. For example, the outermost layer of the inner conductor may include a relatively costly and highly conductive metal such as copper, and the inner layer of the inner conductor may include a less costly and less conductive metal, such as aluminum. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,717,493 B2 to Chopra et al. and U.S. Patent Application No. 2004/0118591 A1 to Bufanda et al. each discloses a coaxial cable with such bimetallic tubular inner conductors.
Notwithstanding the benefits of a bimetal tubular inner conductor, there may be some shortcomings. For example, the manufacture of a bimetal tubular inner conductor usually involves some form of heat based welding, such as for example, conventional induction welding, to weld the seam to form a welded joint. Unfortunately, the two metals that form the bimetal tubular inner conductor usually have different melting temperatures. For example, copper and aluminum are commonly used as the outer and inner layers of the inner conductor, respectively. Copper has a melting point of 1100° C. and a conductivity of 59.6×106 S·m−1, while aluminum has a lower melting point of 660° C. and a lower conductivity of 37.8×106 S·m−1. This disparity in melting points makes welding of the joint relatively difficult.
In response to this particular shortcoming in manufacture of bimetal tubular inner conductors, coaxial cable manufacturers have developed a coaxial cable with a bimetal tubular inner conductor comprising an inlaid bimetallic layer, such as disclosed, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 6,342,677 to Lee. This coaxial cable is more easily welded since only the inner metal layer is welded during manufacture of the bimetal tubular inner conductor. Nonetheless, the inlaid bimetal inner conductor is relatively costly to manufacture. Of course, similar considerations apply to the outer conductor of a coaxial cable. That is, a conventional bimetallic layer may be difficult to weld, and an inlaid bimetallic layer may be relatively expensive.